Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been excluded from upcoming peace talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, set for Friday. According to the White House, the meeting was arranged after Putin extended the invitation.
"The president is agreeing to this meeting, at the request of President Putin," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday. "And the goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war."
"I think the president of the United States getting in the room with the president of Russia, sitting face-to-face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this president the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed," Leavitt added.
Zelenskyy, however, has insisted that any decisions made without Ukraine will be meaningless. "Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine — they are simultaneously decisions against peace," he said in a Saturday statement. "These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real, living peace, one that people will respect."
European allies echoed that sentiment. A coalition of European leaders stated Saturday that "the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine."
Trump told reporters Monday that he expected to know within minutes whether Putin was serious about pursuing a deal. He acknowledged that any agreement might involve negotiations over "land swapping" between Russia and Ukraine.
Trump also said he planned to speak with Zelenskyy and other European leaders after his meeting with Putin. "If it’s a fair deal, I will reveal it to the European Union leaders and the NATO leaders and also to President Zelenskyy," Trump said. "I may say, ‘lots of luck, keep fighting,’ or I may say we can make a deal."
When asked if the meeting was aimed at securing a peace agreement or simply assessing the possibility of one, Leavitt said both outcomes were on the table. "I think both can be true, right?" she said. "The president has always said he wants a peace deal. He wants to see this war come to an end. But this bilateral meeting is a bilateral meeting between one party in this two party war. Right. You need both countries to agree to a deal. The president is accepting this bilateral meeting with Putin on Friday, and I will let him speak further to it after it concludes about how he felt it went."
Trump and Putin are set to meet in Anchorage, Alaska, despite earlier comments from Trump suggesting the talks might take place in Russia. "There were many sites discussed, but of course, Alaska is a state within the United States of America," Leavitt said. "So the president is very honored and looks forward to hosting President Putin on American soil."